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 The sun is about to set I am lying looking up at a dark clear sky where the milky way stretches from one side to the other.
A slow start to the day…I had eaten almost all my food requiring a trip to the Baker grocery store. I hoped they’d have something left after the last time I went there. They do not open until 10:00 and it was seven miles of down hill to get there. After getting some groceries, the plan was to head over eight miles to the Border Inn/Cafe/Slots/Gas station to get some lunch and a motel room. I have not slept well since Ely due to mattress woes. But all the rooms were booked for the long weekend. Still don’t know what the holiday is and when I left at 15:00 only about three of twenty rooms had cars outside. Seemed fishy. Plus, who’d want to stay there? Continue reading Day 24: Great Basin National Park, NV to King’s Canyon, UT (September 22)
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 The cirque from Wheeler Summit Road Today was a ‘rest day’ in the park. It was not much of a rest. I wanted to take the Wheeler scenic drive up to the top. That is 10 miles and 3000 vertical feet one way. I did not count the trip back as it was all downhill. the campsite is at about 7300′. I got going at about 09:15 and was up to the Maher viewpoint by 11:30. It is about 5.5 miles from the camp and is at 9000′ plus feet. I ate my lunch — always good because it makes the bike lighter. Then took a little nap since the noontime sun was beating down. Continue reading Day 23: Wheeler Summit in Great Basin National Park (September 21)
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 Ranger giving the tour of Lehman Cave Another late start after another terrible night’s sleep. Felt like I was up all night tossing and turning. After a quick breakfast I headed down to Baker to get some groceries for the two nights I planned on spending in Great Basin National Park. The thirteen miles of downhill were a good way to start the day. After a quick stop at the Great Basin NP visitor center to get some park info, I headed into Baker.
Baker is a three shop town or maybe a few more but only about three interested me — grocery store and cafes. Unfortunately one of the cafes was closed until next week and the other did not open until lunch time. So I went to the grocery store and felt like I was clearing them out. I bought the last chicken flavored ramen, pretzels, Doritos, cheesy rice & broccoli boil dinners, and single serve shredded wheat and raisin bran.
Continue reading Day 22: Sacramento Pass to Great Basin National Park, NV (September 20)
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 Sunset from Sacramento Pass Getting a very late start (09:00) from Ely the road was all uphill to Connor’s Pass. It was not steep but just constant. I thought it was just my usual morning slowness but after an hour and a half of not getting into a speedier groove I realized it was because it was all uphill.
The scenery was more of the same basin-range with sage brush. It was still dramatic and beautiful. Continue reading Day 21: Ely to Sacramento Pass, NV (September 19)
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 The locomotive letting off some steam Today was a rest day even though didn’t really need one. I wanted to ride the Ghost Train.
I started the day with pancakes from the Silver State Restaurant. Seems like a pretty local place. Well, besides the guys driving the two Vipers and the Corvette parked outside, everyone else seemed to be local.
After breakfast, I walked over to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum at the old Ely passenger depot. It used to be an important part of town with the old, turn of the century storefronts. But now the storefronts are mostly boarded up, vacant, or falling down. Now the town is sort of a series of motels along Rt 50 most of which my father would have proclaimed, “What a DUMP!” and those are the open ones. There seem to be an almost equal number of ones that are closed down with peeling paint and weeds taking over the parking lots. Interspersed among the motels in various stages of doing business are other stores most of which are vacant and for sale. Continue reading Day 20: Rest Day in Ely, NV (September 18)
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 They are two months in heading west from Virginia. At 06:00 when I first woke a thick fog hung over the reservoir and valley. I went back to sleep for a couple hours since I was in no rush knowing there would only be 40 miles today and about 15 of it downhill into Ely. At 8:30, the fog was breaking up under the bright sun. I hung up all my wet gear from the previous night. As the fog cleared the cows grazing in the campground became visible. The campground is BLM land and free paid for by fishing license fees. A number of pickups drove down to the reservoir beach, set up lawn chairs, and rod holders for a day of fishing.
I finally headed out about 10:30. The first almost 20 miles were not bad. About fifteen miles out I met a couple of cyclists who had started in Virginia Beach about two months before and were heading to SF. A few miles later on my way up to Robinson Pass I met the second group of the day. There were three riders. One going to SF and the other two up to Seattle. The two going to Seattle had started in January doing a big loop around the USA. They had been to every state except California, Oregon, and Washington. They told me I had 21 miles to go — three uphill to the pass, and then 18 miles downhill into Ely. Continue reading Day 19: Illipah Reservoir to Ely, NV (September 17)
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 The front is almost upon me I just spent the last 15 minutes holding my tent in place. A front was moving through and ultralight tents are not designed for winds gusting to 50 mph. So with one hand trying to keep the fly near the ground to reduce the rain blowing under it, I held the poles in place with the other. The tent was still whipping around in every direction. I was glad I went a bit overboard and had put fifteen pounds of rocks on every corner. It is still raining out and a bit of wind. But getting less and I can see the sun to the south where the wind is coming from. I stuffed my gore-Tex jacket and dry bag against the south end of the tent to try to keep out the rain. I seem to remember my brother saying, “If it rains, you’ll get soaked.” Well, not quite but somewhat. I checked the weather report and it said today had a 70% chance of thunder showers but tomorrow should be nice. On the radar image there was a big green blob of rain going right in between Eureka and Ely. Hopefully the sun I see is the bottom edge of it. Continue reading Day 18: Eureka, NV to Illipah Reservoir Campground (September 16)
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 Jackson Hotel (closed) and the Eureka Opera House (open) I had a bad night’s sleep again due to my sleeping pad leaking air. Long ago I had strained a groin muscle and occasionally it will bother me. Waking up, I could feel it a bit. So I decided to take a rest day. Jian and I had breakfast, and then he took off and I figured out what to do with myself for the day.
Luckily, Eureka is a somewhat interesting town. It had a population of over 3000 compared to just 650 today. It has a museum and the chamber of commerce prints up a walking tour guide. So I hopped on my bicycle and did the tour. Eureka in its earlier history was a bigger town and fairly well off from the silver mining and related business. The slag heaps from the smelters sit at either end of town; at one time there were 16 smelters in town and the air was black referred to as “the Pittsburgh of the West.” The town has some nice older buildings. I like older buildings and would look at some that were not used and wondered what I would do with it if I bought it. The town suffered multiple fires in its early years and had to be rebuilt a few times. Continue reading Day 17: Rest Day in Eureka, NV (September 15)
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 Not much there... Today was perhaps the hardest day so far. It had all my nemesis: hills, wind, distance, rain, and general soreness. Right out of the RV park the hill started. It was a little over 1000 feet, a nice two mile descent, followed by another 600 foot climb. Later there was another 600 foot climb and just for good measure there was a 600 foot climb into Eureka. The long 50 miles in between the descent off the summits out of Austin and climbing into Eureka was long. It was punctuated by headwinds and thunderstorms with driving rain. Luckily the rain only lasted for about an hour. While doing the third climb of the day, I was thinking, “Some people go out and ride up hills for fun.” Considering my focus on moving up hill it took me a few minutes to realize the irony, and think, “Yeah, that would be me. That is what I am doing now. Fun.” Continue reading Day 16: Austin to Eureka, NV (September 14)
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 Home, home on the range where the deer and the antelope play... Leaving Cold Springs this morning it was a bit chilly. I wore both the arm and legs plus my welding cap (cotton helmet liner) and a wind breaker. After an hour I was able to take off the arms because it had warmed up to about 60 from 40 F. The scenery was more basins and ranges. The smell of the sage grass was quite strong early. The sun mostly hid behind patchy clouds. All day thunderstorms and rain could be seen at different points in the basins. After a couple of hours and about 20 miles I came to resurfacing road work. I was able to ride through on my own, but all other cars and trucks needed to have a lead car to follow. This turned out to be quite nice for the rest of the day’s ride. The one-lane traffic and lead car meant that traffic was stopped for about 30-40 minutes before being released. For the rest of the day I’d have no cars for 45 minutes or so and then they’d all come by in a few minutes. I’d pull over, wait for them all to go by then the road would be mine for another 40 plus minutes. Continue reading Day 15: Cold Springs Station to Austin, NV (September 13)
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